Freeman scores twice as US routs Uruguay 5-1, heads into World Cup year with 5-game unbeaten streak

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Freeman scored twice and Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna had one goal each as the United States overwhelmed Uruguay with a four-goal first half in a 5-1 win on Tuesday night to head into a World Cup year with a five-game unbeaten streak.

Tanner Tessmann added a 68th-minute goal for the U.S., which scored five times against a South American confederation opponent and a top 30 team for the first time.

The 16th-ranked Americans continued their autumn turnaround after lackluster performances in the CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup.

They have just two more games, March friendlies likely against Belgium and Portugal, before coach Mauricio Pochettino selects his World Cup roster.

Freeman, Berhalter and Tessmann all scored their first international goals as the U.S. got five goals against a team outside the CONCACAF region for the first time since beating Scotland 5-1 in 2012. The Americans have won four games, including three straight, during the five-game unbeaten streak against World Cup-bound teams.

Uruguay's Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off in the 64th minute for a high sliding tackle on Berhalter. La Celeste, ranked 15th and headed to its fifth straight World Cup, had entered the friendly with a six-game unbeaten streak.

Berhalter, a son of former coach Gregg Berhalter, put the U.S. ahead in the 17th minute off a free kick and Freeman headed in Berhalter's corner kick in the 20th. Freeman added a 31st-minute goal and Luna opened a four-goal lead in the 42nd.

Fielding a starting lineup of mostly backups before a crowd of 26,110 in 69,000-capacity Raymond James Stadium, the U.S. scored four goals in a half for the first time against a South American team.

Uruguay's Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored on a 7-yard overhead kick in the first minute of first-half stoppage time, his 13th international goal, after goalkeeper Matt Freese and defenders Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie converged and all failed to clear the ball.

Before the start and again at the final whistle, Pochettino hugged Uruguay’s Marcelo Bielsa, the coach who signed him as a 13-year-old for Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina.

The U.S. went ahead after Manuel Ugarte fouled Haji Wright just to the side of the penalty area. Berhalter exchanged passes with Sergiño Dest and one-timed a shot past backup goalkeeper Cristopher Fiermarin inside the far post

Freeman, a son of former NFL all-pro receiver Antonio Freeman playing in his home state, outjumped Bentancur to head in Berhalter's corner kick for the second goal and Timmy Tillman slid to win a challenge against Nahitan Nández, leading to the third goal. Tillman passed wide to Trusty, who one-touched the ball into the path of Freeman. He dribbled between Ronald Araújo and Manuel Ugarte to score from short range off a deflection, becoming only the second American defender with a two-goal game after Aaron Long in 2019 against Trinidad and Tobago.

Luna got his fourth international goal after Tillman's cross deflected off Rodrigo Zalazar and rolled into his path near the penalty spot.

Tessmann headed in a cross from fellow second-half substitute Gio Reyna following a short corner kick.

Pochettino change nine starters, keeping only Freese and Dest, who played wide right. Trusty made his second start, his first since his debut in March 2023, and Tillman made his second start, his first since his debut in January 2024.

United States's Haji Wright (19) and Uruguay Ronald Araujo go up for a header during the first half of an international friendly soccer game, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

United States' John Tonkin (3) and Diego Luna (10) celebrate Luna's goal during the first half of an international friendly soccer game against Uruguay, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino, left, and Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa speak before an international friendly soccer game, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

United States' Alex Freeman (16) scores on Uruguay goalie Cristopher Fiermarin (1) as Rodrigo Bentancur (6) defends during the first half of an international friendly soccer game Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)